via @grist

Donald Trump has been spewing forth a stream of repugnant verbal pollution for months. Now he stands accused of producing a more literal kind of pollution — one that could contaminate the source of drinking water for the city where he so badly wants to live. In 2009, the Trump National Golf Course 15 miles outside Washington, D.C., cut down an estimated 465 mature trees along the banks of the Potomac River, which provides drinking water to 5 million people. The head of the nonprofit Potomac Conservancy, Hedrick Belin, is now charging that the removal of trees along that 1.5-mile stretch could be worsening erosion and runoff into the river. “It’s the single largest stretch of river upstream of D.C. without any trees on it whatsoever,” Belin told Grist. “If you’re flying into the National Airport in D.C., you can see it from the air. The contrast is so stark.” And those miss...